France

We have done many long journeys together including overnight trains and 12 hour coach journeys sitting next to a toilet which didn't flush in Vietnam, the journey from Barcelona to Fouqueure, France was undoubtedly the worst. The 9 hour coach journey in itself wasn't too bad, it wasn't spacious but for £15 each it was great value and fairly comfortable. The problem began when we got to Limoge at about half one in the morning. Jack has only visited Limoge once as a kid and remembered it being a big city. The station we arrived into was nice and warm with a coffee machine, we were quite happy to spend our night there before taking an early morning train to Angouleme. After 5 minutes in the train station the guards kicked us out as it was closing for 3 hours. 

We had envisioned that at least a few bars/clubs/restaurants/stations/McDonald's/kebabs would be open, we were unfortunately mistaken and very cold. After wondering around for an hour we noticed two skateboarders, rushed over and asked using Jack's limited French where could we eat. They were really friendly and walked around taking us to kebab shops for around an hour, all were closed. Although the two boys were around our age they did not speak a word of English. They eventually gave up and directed us to a McDonald's drive in they thought might be open. We had to eat our big Macs on a frosty bench outside. After around 3 hours being outside we walked to the station to find it was open and that it had been for 2 hours. The guards were obviously trying to tell us it opened again at 3am not in 3 hours. 

Anyway we made it to Angouleme, from there took a train to Luxe which is also the closest train station to Fouqueure, the lovely house in France. First couple of days it was quite rainy and cold and we mostly spent our time cleaning and heating up the house as no one had been there over the winter. In France it has been our first time where we stayed in a house all on our own and we loved it.

Ps: Didn't feel very motivated to take any pictures.

Barcelona

I tend to have this thing when I fall in love with something from the first sight, Barcelona was one of them. Our hostel was only a 4 km walk from the train station and as we reached the hostel we realised it's right by the sea and very close to the main area of the city. Barcelona Gothic hostel also turned out to be one of the best hostels we have stayed in with it's clean and cosy rooms and the friendliest staff we have ever encountered. Can't wait to go to Barcelona to stay there again hopefully with better weather next time. Although it was nice and sunny the first day we arrived the rest of our short stay was quite rainy and the bittersweet weather forecast promised the most perfect spring weather just after we left Spain. 

Most of the time we spent in Barcelona we devised our own walking tour, mostly following the tourist bus. Although we didn't enter any of the tourist sights you have to pay for, in our opinion the best views were to be had from outside, or maybe we were just trying to justify our decision. At least our bank accounts were happier, it wasn't cheap. Without Gaudi Barcelona wouldn't be the same because the most stunning things we saw were created or influenced by him.

Güell park

Güell park

Güell park

Güell park

Barcelona was filled with happy and relaxed locals and tourists, food was lovely and surprisingly affordable for a big city. We had two delicious all you can eat buffets. One called Wok which was mainly Japanese style seafood which was just fabulous. For 10 euros we filled ourselves up with unlimited fish and seafood cooked from fresh in front of our eyes, sushi and steaks. 

For today we have booked a 9 hour couch journey from Barcelona to Limoges in France which with megabus only cost us £15. From there we have to find our way to Jack's parents' holiday house. 

Cadaques

On Thursday we borrowed Ramon's car again and took a road over the mountains to Cadaques which is probably the most beautiful town in the area. I have to mention I quite like driving in the mountains, it can be bit scary but it is definitely much better than sitting on the passenger seat. Ramon's car is very old and not very well looked after, half of the time the speedometer refuses to work which only leaves us to hope that they won't receive any speeding tickets. 

Cadaques

Cadaques is known as the home of Salvatore Dali. We also walked up to his house which now is a very expensive museum. It was too expensive for us to buy a ticket and see how Dali used to live and we could only guess that as a painter he probably didn't even spend that much time inside the house but sitting in his lovely garden surrounded by relaxing views to the sea and mountains. And also Brian has told us some interesting stories about Dali as they used to know each other. That's all we needed to know about this famous 20th century artist. 

Home of Dali with the two heads

Sitting where Dali used to

Cadaques is much more than the home of Dali, it is a stunning town by the clear blue sea framed by mountains. Most of the houses there are white with sky-blue window shutters and doors leaving the overall feel of the town very clean and bright. It is typically Spanish to have the white and blue contrast but to see a whole town in that same style is quite rare.

We finally feel like we have seen most of the local area and therefor we are heading to Barcelona tomorrow. It has been very nice to spend some time with Brian, Ramon and Carlos. Through the many customers we have met we have been offered an insight into how the other half live. Brian has spoilt us with the endless dinners and unlimited drinks at his shop. We are very lucky and grateful. 

Snowy mountains

Since we arrived in Spain and saw the snowy mountains we have wanted to trek up to one of them. Yesterday we finally decided to do it. We woke up early in the morning, packed our bag with water and warm clothes as it can get quite cold up in the snow and off we went. As we could see our destination a map wasn't necessary. We walked 6 km to the first village, another 3 to the next village and after another 4 km we reached the final village which was as close to the mountains as a village can be. The road ended there. The snowy mountains didn't seem to be any closer though. Somehow we still managed to walk couple of more kilometers on a private property but decided that we were probably way too optimistic about this trek and started heading back. 

Destination

Our bamboo walking sticks

SPOT the difference

The way back was exhausting, we were probably more tired than we imagined we could be. Our attempt to get some food in the village didn't turn out so great either. First of all we didn't have any money with us and everything was shut anyway because of the Spanish siesta. So all we had to eat before crawling back home was this big juicy orange we had nicked from someone's garden. To make things even worse it started raining. The temptation to call Brian and Ramon to pick us up was won over by our determination to cope without any help. 

After having something quick to eat back in Peralada it finally hit us. We are not the most fit people you can find and 30 km up and down the hills isn't the easiest walk you can have. Finding it hard to move we somehow made it to the apartment (we live at Brian's now). I was so tired that I probably fell asleep half the way up the stairs. 

Today all we are doing is recovering. I find it extremely hard to stand up and move my legs after having sat down. Jack doesn't seem to be in any sort of pain as all he does is mock me about how I look like a penguin when I walk. Reading all I've written now it seems like all we do is complain but although yesterday was very tiring it was well worth it. 18.3

Driving to the mountains

The weather has been wonderful with clear blue sky and not a cloud in sight. Today we decided to borrow Ramon`s old car and take a little road trip up to the mountains. As it was my first driving experience in Spain perhaps going to the mountains, with an old car, having to drive on the other side of the road, wasn`t the most relaxing thing we could have done. Proving us wrong I am a pretty damn good driver.

Jack´s directions were not the best although he blamed the map. His poor directional sense accidently lead to us visiting Sant Pere de Rodes which is one of the higher points around Peralada and consists of another castle and the ruins of a monastery. We drove up to the castle and trekked to the ruins of the monastery which offers some of the best views we had seen in Spain so far. The path up to the top is a pretty tame trek although in places can be a little unnerving if heights are not your thing. At the top we realised it was well worth the walk as you get a nearly 360 degree view of the whole area including the small seaside town of Cadaques and the Pyrenees. Its probably best to just look at the pictures for this one.

On our way back we would`ve loved to drive down to Cadaques as it looked to be a beautiful little town and all the locals have also suggested to go there but we were running pretty low on petrol. Guess it`s not the most economical drive going up the mountain. In order to save some fuel we rolled down the hill without using any gears, the whole 8 km. By the time we got safely back to Peralada it was lunch time followed by a siesta. We would like to use the car on another day though and do some more exploring.

Roses and Besalu

On Saturday Carlos, a friend of Brian and Ramon who also works in the shop took us to Roses, a beautiful little town about 15 km from Peralada. We had planned to go to the beach and maybe even have a swim. It was a little overcast and after 30 minutes of attempted sun bathing we decided it was too cold and went to explore instead. Roses has two castles, one at either end and a strip of beach with touristy shops along the middle. Amazed by the views and beauty of Roses we didn`t even take pictures of the castles.

The cuisine there is more English than it is Spanish, you are more likely to get egg and chips than paella. Not wanting to to pay for English food or to go into one of the castles, we trekked up to the far castle and took in the impressive views.It is lovely to see clear blue water and big snowy mountains at the same time on a nice sunny day. 

Our lunch 

For lunch we went to the Spar and bought two french sticks a tub of alioli and a tin of olives, we sat on a bench and had our more typically Spanish lunch than we could of got from the local restaurants. Budget travellers as we are. Carlos also showed us how to make alioli, Jack`s favorite dipping sauce. It is surprisingly easy to make and after seeing what goes in there it`s not that pleasant to eat anymore. Alioli is basically garlic, raw egg and tons of olive oil.

On Monday Ramon took us to Besalu a picturesque medieval town, mostly restored between the 11th and 14th century Besalu has a heavy Jewish influence with the remains of an old Synagogue and a Jewish bath. The most renowned part of Besalu is the old medieval bridge offering great views into Besalu and the surrounding areas.

We didn`t realise that Monday is a day off for all the Spanish people as it gets so busy over the weekend and everyone needs a break. It was quite nice to wander around this empty town. Although it would have been nice to not have had to persuade a hotel owner to make us a coffee on her day off. Everything was shut down and it felt a bit like a beautiful ghost town. Luckily with a bit of local knowledge from the hotel owner we were taken to seemingly the only open restaurant in Besalu for lunch. All in all we had a great day in Besalu with uncle Brian.

Barcelona to Peralada

On Thursday we arrived safely in sunny Spain, Barcelona el Prat airport. From there we were heading to Peralada to see Jack`s uncle Brian who lives there and also has a fashion shop called Lomet.

At first we had to take a train to the main train station in Barcelona, that was the easy part. After we had bought the tickets to Figueres and sat down nicely on the train, we decided to ask a local just to make sure that was the right train. Well, it wasn`t, we were heading to Manresa instead. We got off confused about where we were and how to make it to Figueres. Our Catalan wasn`t great and understanding the security guard explaining the way to Figueres was proving tricky, lucky for us a local had stopped to translate and by coincidence he was also heading to Figueres. 

Off we went with our new Spanish friend. The journey was nearly 2 hours long and we are not quite sure if we would have made it without local help. We talked most of the way anything from Spanish politics to football. As we didn`t know much about Spain it came as a surprise that many regions of Spain wanted to become independent states. Catalonia, where we were currently staying has it`s own language as does the Basque and Valencian regions. Catalonian people don`t consider themselves Spanish, they are born in Catalonia, speak catalan and live in their own "country" called Catalonia. The travelling we have done throughout this region we have only seen a handful of Spanish flags and almost every house seems to have a Catalonian flag hanging on a balcony or from a window.

 At the train station in Figueres Brian and his partner Ramon welcomed us to go for a nice dinner in a lovely local restaurant. Brian had also booked us a hostel which is literally above their flat in Peralada. Peralada is a small village close to the sea and Pyrenees. Everyone knows everyone and people are happy and relaxed.

Lomet, Brian`s fashion shop

Lomet inside

What we mostly do here is sitting on the roof top terrace in Brian`s shop, sunbathe and sip beers. The weather has been brilliant, more than 20 degrees every day. It`s a very nice change from English miserable rain. Brian and Ramon are incredible hosts taking us for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. Breakfast at 9.30 am, lunch at 3 pm and dinner around 9 pm, after a couple of hours of siesta when everything is closed. It is very common that at midnight all the restaurants are still packed with people eating their dinner. From 3 pm till 5 pm all the shops are closed for their siesta, which we got used to very quickly by having a siesta of our own.

The roof top terrace with a bar in the shop where we spend most of our days

The window in the shop